One of my cousins who lives in Toronto is coming over in 3 weeks, shall ask her what it was like.
Should have dumped on that oil train a couple of days ago.

I use to live about 4 miles from Buncefield oil terminal, this is a picture of my oil office.
Those servers did the NHS payrole.

Posted By: SteamyTeaI use to live about 4 miles from Buncefield oil terminal

I think we were 10 or 11 miles (16-18km) from Buncefield. Loud bang (they have only recently discovered why the vapour mixture underwent a supersonic detonation rather than the usual fast burn), apocalyptic smoky skies while the blaze continued, but no damage except a (fairly loose) bath panel popped out.

The theory at Flixborough was that when the flame front hit a tangle of pipework, its surface area increased and so did the combustion rate. That, and the accompanying turbulence, was apparently enough to initiate a shock wave.

There wasn't much pipework at Buncefield, but there were shrubs and trees at the spot where the detonation began. After some experiments they concluded that twigs and branches had the same effect as the pipes at Flixborough. (New Scientist article, subscription only I'm afraid, http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328581.800-impossible-explosion-the-buncefield-blast-explained.html)

As for your rain, I can well imagine the chaos. I've only once witnessed that much falling on a city - Cairns, Australia - and the next morning we were strolling through the streets up to our ankles in warm tropical rainwater. You gonna change its name to Torrento?